The Allen County Public Library is pleased to welcome Dr. Edna Greene Medford of Howard University for a Juneteenth presentation Friday, June 19, at 7 p.m. Dr. Medford will speak on “When Freedom Came: Emancipation and the Question of Timing.” The lecture will be in the Main Library Theater on Lower Level 2 and is free and open to the public.

June 19, 2015, is the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth, the first known celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. The event took place in Texas when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865, and told residents that the war was over and the slaves were free.[1]

Dr. Medford will discuss the various dates to be considered for the celebration of enslaved people gaining their freedom – January 1, 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation; June 19, 1865, when word finally reached far-flung Texas; or December 6, 1865, when the requisite number of states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery. Dr. Medford is an author, an instructor on African American history, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and 19th century America, and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Lincoln Forum. She received a 2009 bicentennial edition of the Order of Lincoln from the State of Illinois for her study of Lincoln and the Civil War era.Join us for this special presentation sponsored by the Allen County Public Library!

The First Baptist Scrapbooks contain all types of church activities and news from 1949 to 1995, including selected members’ obituaries and wedding announcements, bulletins and photographs. The North Christian Scrapbooks also contain bulletins, photos, accounts of various church activities and news items pertaining to the church or to its members. Although the scrapbooks are not indexed, the contents listings for each of these eight scrapbooks will provide a valuable guide to anyone searching for news or members of these churches.

Thank you to these two churches for allowing us to make these great resources available!

To start off with one of our most popular databases, the Evangelical Messenger Obituary Abstracts database just keeps growing, and now covers 1848 to 1943 with a total of 188, 555 entries thanks to Anne Dallas Budd, Rita Bone Kopp and Sally Zody Spreng.

How many times have you moved in your life? Not counting the multitude of trips to and from my college town, and the moves between residence halls and apartments there, I have changes towns seven times in my life, and within those towns my family moved from one residence to another an additional nine times. At every move, we had to dispose of a lot of unnecessary items before moving. Old furniture, clothes or small appliances might go to a charity organization, but many broken-beyond-repair items and other junk ended up in the alley awaiting the garbage truck.

Why am I sharing these memories? Because sometime in the future, you, too, may make a move. You, too, will go through your possessions, selecting what to take with you and what to jettison. Along with all of the other stuff that you’ve hauled from one abode to another or stored for years will be items that you hate to throw away, but know that, really, are not worth taking. These items could include church or association directories, military or family reunion programs and directories, and school directories or yearbooks.

Stop! Don’t throw those items out! Send them to The Genealogy Center! We, as genealogists, examine city directories, pour over tax lists and pounce on lists of letters left at the post office, but forget that the records we so blithely think to discard could be valuable to future generations. So when you decide that you don’t need that high (or elementary) school annual, that homeowners’ association directory or those military reunion booklets, send them to us and we will be happy to have them as part of our collection. Contact us if you have questions.

And remember that if you have friends, family members or neighbors that are clearing out their houses in preparation of a move, ask them to send that type of material to us instead of the putting them in the dumpster. One person’s trash is our collection’s treasure!

Global Family Reunion will be Saturday, June 6, in New York City. The event, brainchild of author A. J. Jacobs, celebrates that we are all part of one big family – we are all cousins! The New York activities, including speakers, games, and other events, will take place on the grounds of the legendary 1964 World’s Fair, now home to the New York Hall of Science. Our local “branch party” will feature live streaming from New York on Saturday. Proceeds from ticket sales to the New York event will go toward finding a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. Events at ACPL are free.

Full details about local activities are available in the Global Family Reunion brochure. Besides other events, there will be three family photo opportunities:
• Have your family photo taken in The Great Hall and we will email you a copy
• Take a silly picture of your family with props in Children’s Services
• You Are (Were) Here – Take a photo in front of the green screen in Young Adult Services & we’ll superimpose it on a country of your ancestors’ origin

In addition, bring heritage family photos and we will scan them, preserve them on our website, and email you a copy!

There will be chess and board games in Young Adult Services noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, as well as outdoor games – bocce ball on Friday, cornhole on Saturday, and badminton on Sunday – on the Library Plaza!

The Genealogy Center will present talks on Family History Fun, Ways to Display Your Family History Using Pinterest, Storytelling, Exciting Ways to Share Your Genealogy, and Being Creative … with Your Family History.

There’s more! Keep watching this blog, The Genealogy Center’s website, our social media outlets and Genealogy Gems to learn times and days for various activities.

Congratulations! You’re on the road of family discovery, wanting to learn more about those that came before you. Maybe you have already started be trying Ancestry, or talking to relatives or maybe you are just curious about the paths you can take through the family trees. The Genealogy Center wants to help you navigate your journey with a series for the beginner – or for those who want to make sure they have the process well in hand. These 90-minute classes will be on the last Saturday of each month, June through September, so join us each month to find the route to your roots.

The first session is “Beginning Your Family History Exploration” on Saturday, June 27, 2015, at 10:00A in Meeting Room A. Discover the basics of gathering information from your living relatives and family sources, and the importance of organization in the research process. A brief overview of what records you may discover in your search, and how they may be used to further your family story. We will also introduce you to Ancestry’s census collection and how to use it as a springboard to other records. Finally, take a tour of The Genealogy Center to familiarize yourself with what you can find.

Next up on Saturday July 25, 2015 is “Beyond Just Starting,” at 9:30A in Meeting Room C. Learn how to verify the information you find, and the importance of documenting what you find and where you found it. Discover how to harvest as much information as possible from various records. We will also show you how to use the free FamilySearch website, and provide a virtual tour of The Genealogy Center’s licensed databases.

The series will continue on Saturday August 29, 2015 and Saturday September 26, 2015, with “Following Up With More Records” and “Beginners Guide to Genealogical Software.” Mark your calendars now to attend!

To register for these free events, call 260-421-1225 or send an email.

In previous years, this is about the time we begin reminding all of our visitors that The Genealogy Center is closed on Sundays in the summer, but not this year! We are happy to announce that The Genealogy Center will be open our regular Sunday hours of 12 noon to 5 p.m. most Sundays this summer.

We will be closed three Sundays this summer, however, all attached to holiday weekends: Sunday and Monday, May 24th and 25th, for the Memorial Day weekend; Sunday and Monday, September 6th and 7th for the Labor Day weekend; and three days for the Fourth of July weekend (Friday July 3rd, Saturday July 4th and Sunday July 5th). But that leaves twelve “extra” days to do research at The Genealogy Center!

On Friday, June 19, 2015, Dr. Edna Greene Medford, professor of history at Howard University, will present “When Freedom Came: Emancipation and the Question of Timing” addressing the issue of how we identify the arrival of African American freedom. As Dr. Medford explains:

Every schoolboy and girl knows that on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation declaring that all enslaved people in the states (or parts thereof) still in rebellion "are and henceforward shall be free." What happened after that is contested ground. We know that enslaved people experienced emancipation at myriad times and in myriad ways. Some were freed immediately; others were not freed until they exercised agency and fled the plantations; the vast majority awaited the arrival of federal military personnel. Even within certain states that had been visited by Union forces, knowledge of the proclamation did not reach all enslaved inhabitants swiftly or in any uniform way. How, then, do we determine the proper date to celebrate African-American freedom? My talk will consider the case for January 1, the date of the Emancipation Proclamation; June 19, or Juneteenth; and December 6, the date the requisite number of states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment.

Dr. Medford teaches courses on African American history, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and nineteenth-century America at Howard University. She is the author and editor of numerous books and articles on African Americans in the Civil War. Dr. Medford is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Lincoln Forum and a recipient of a 2009 bicentennial edition of the Order of Lincoln from the State of Illinois for her study of the Lincoln and the Civil War era.

Click for more information. Join us on Friday, June 19, 2015 at 7 p.m. in the Main Library Theater!

We invite you to capture a day in Allen County, Indiana! On Friday, May 1, 2015, take pictures of anything and everything that is happening in our county in that twenty-four hour time period, and send them to us! What is your view of Allen County that day? These pictures are not limited to marquee events. We want to capture what is going on throughout the entire community, so pictures can be of people at work, children at play, sporting events, weather and blooming flowers, homes and buildings, traffic scenes, hikers and bikers, and people just hanging out. Include a description you would like put with the picture. If it’s happening in the twenty-four hours of May 1st, it’s worth capturing!

What do you do with the various family materials that you have acquired or written over the years? Are they displayed on bookshelves at home? Shared with relatives? Or stuck away in a box in the garage? The Genealogy Center has obtained several items that can show you the types of material that we are happy to post on our free Family Resources page.

The Irving Family Tree was compiled in 1980 by Ian Alfred Lyon with addenda by Jan E. Irving and James M. Irvine in 2013 and 2014. This family tree includes family members from the late 1600s to 2014.

Mary Hayes Griffin Ancestors is another family tree that has been scanned for posting. Mary Hayes Griffin was born in 1913, daughter of Willard Carl Griffin and Teresa Elvira Briggs. This short volume goes back many generations, and then forward from Mary to her grandchildren.

These three items have also already been cataloged in our "book" catalog, to facilitate location by other researchers.

The last item is Memorial Records of Leota May, concerning Leota’s 1971 death, including pall bearers, a register of family and friends and floral tributes, communications with the Batesville Casket Company, and memorial, sympathy and wreath cards. Aside from the valuable family information is the insight into funeral practices in Indiana in the 1970s.

These great items are just a few examples of what we have been allowed to add to our Family Resources page. Do you have some items you'd like us to include? If so, please contact us.

Have a brick wall in your research? Would you like a greater understanding of some aspect of your research? The Genealogy Center is offering 30-minute personal research consultations with a staff member on some troublesome aspect of your research on Thursday May 7th and Thursday May 28th, from 2PM to 4PM, in The Genealogy Center. Call 260-421-1225 or email Genealogy@ACPL.Info for an appointment, providing basic information concerning the nature of your quandary. A staff member will be assigned and a time established for your consultation. Be sure to bring your research notes to your consultation.

The Genealogy Center, like the rest of the Allen County Public Library facilities, will be closed on Sunday, April 5, 2015 in observance of Easter. We will be open on Saturday, April 4th, our regular hours of 9A to 6P, and on Monday, 9A to 9P.

On March 22, 1823, Wayne Lodge No. 25 F&AM was established in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Nearlytwo hundred years later, the Masonic Temple loaned the Minute Books for the Lodge to The Genealogy Center so that the materials in these books would not be lost to future generations. Eleven volumes, ranging from the minutes of the first authorized meeting in 1823 through 1958, document the oldest Masonic Lodge in northern Indiana are now available online for free!

This amazing collection of original materials, documenting some of Fort Wayne’s influential leaders during the 19th century, can be browsed by month and year. Familiar names such as Ewing, Foster, Rudisill, and Wells are recorded throughout these books, which chronicle the activities of the organization and its members, including discussions about potential new members, hearings concerning some members’ questionable behaviors, and visitors from other Lodges.

For genealogists researching family members who belonged to the Masons, even those who resided in other states, or for Fort Wayne historians, these records are worth a look.

Unlike our other social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, it’s not possible to get a “sneak peek” at an Instagram account without logging in. Instagram was designed as a smartphone and tablet app. Its usability is limited on a computer. If you wish to create an Instagram account so that you can follow The Genealogy Center, download the app on your smartphone or tablet from the iTunes or Google Play store. Then create an account, search on your phone or tablet for @GenealogyCenter, and follow us.

Once you have an account, you can sign in on to Instagram on a PC, scroll through the photos that have been posted by those you are following, and locate one by The Genealogy Center. Then click on “The Genealogy Center” to the left of the photo and you will see all of our previous posts. On your smartphone or tablet, you can use the Search function (it looks like a magnifying glass) to search for us among the accounts you follow, or from your own profile, you can click on “following” to see a list of those you follow. These last two methods are not available from a computer.

You can “like” a post on Instagram or add a comment on it from a smartphone, tablet or a computer. Follow us!

Have a brick wall in your research? Would you like a greater understanding of some aspect of your research? The Genealogy Center is offering 30-minute personal research consultations with a staff member on some troublesome aspect of your research on Tuesday, April 7, 2015 and Thursday, April 16, 2015. Call 260-421-1225 or email Genealogy@ACPL.Info for an appointment, providing basic information concerning the nature of your quandary. A staff member will be assigned and a time established for your consultation. Be sure to bring your research notes to your consultation.

Space is limited, and pre-registration is required. Register today!

The Genealogy Center, 2:00PM to 4:00PM on Tuesday April 7 and Thursday April 16.

Recently, additions have been made to two of the free databases for Allen County. More than four thousand records for North Side High School have been added to the Allen County High school Yearbooks Index. A name search in the index provides the year and page number for students mentioned in the local yearbooks for Central High (1914-1971), Central Catholic High (1915-1972), North Side High (1929-1959, except 1937, 1940 and 1947) and South Side High (1923-1974 and 1976-1994). Copies of the yearbooks are held in The Genealogy Center.